Editing XeTeX (section)

==Mode of operation==
[[Image:Rare and ancient ligatures in XeTeX.svg|thumbnail|280px|Rendering of [[Typographical ligature|ligatures]] and [[List of typographic features#Ligation and alternate forms features intended for all scripts|contextual alternates]] in XeTeX using an [[OpenType]] font ([[Hoefler Text]]).]]

XeTeX processes input in two stages. In the first stage XeTeX outputs an [[extended DVI]] (<code>xdv</code>) file, which is then converted to [[PDF]] by a driver. In the default operating mode the <code>xdv</code> output is piped directly to the driver without producing any user-visible intermediate files. It is possible to run just the first stage of XeTeX and save the <code>xdv</code>, although {{As of|2008|7|lc=on}} there are no viewers capable of displaying the intermediate format.

Two backend drivers are available to generate PDF from an <code>xdv</code> file:
* xdv2pdf, which uses [[Apple Type Services for Unicode Imaging|ATSUI]] and [[QuickTime#QuickTime framework|QuickTime]] frameworks, and only works on [[Mac OS X]].
* xdvipdfmx, a modified version of [[dvipdfmx]], which uses [[FreeType]]. This driver works on all platforms.

Starting from version 0.997, the default driver is xdvipdfmx on all platforms. As of version 0.9999, xdv2pdf is no longer supported and its development has been discontinued.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://tug.org/pipermail/xetex/2013-March/024120.html | last=Hosny | first=Khaled | title=Future of xdv2pdf driver on Mac | date=March 12, 2013 | access-date=2013-06-07}}</ref>

XeTeX works well with both [[LaTeX]] and [[ConTeXt]] macro packages. Its LaTeX counterpart is invoked as <code>xelatex</code>. It is usually used with the <code>fontspec</code> package, which provides a configurable interface for font selection, and allows complex font choices to be named and later reused.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/xetex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.pdf|last=Robertson|first=Will|date = August 9, 2008|title=The fontspec package | access-date=2009-01-08}}</ref>

XeTeX is bundled with [[TeX Live]], [[MacTeX]], [[MiKTeX]] and [[Lyx]] (see the [[XeTeX#History|History]] below for dates and versions).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/XeTeX|title=LyX wiki {{!}} LyX / XeTeX|website=wiki.lyx.org|access-date=2017-08-25}}</ref>